Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Duel (1971)

I wasn't very entertained by the movie, but it was interesting on an academic level to trace some early Spielberg fingerprints.

There are also a couple money-shots worth seeing the whole film for, like the rig toppling over the cliff at the end like a giant iron dragon (complete with Godzilla-like scream of defeat). I thought I'd seen a vehicle go over a cliff before, but the way they staged and captured it with the billowing dust and smoke was very beautiful, like a mortally-wounded stone golem slowly toppling.

Much more interesting than the movie were the two behind the scenes interviews with Spielberg, one about Duel and the other about Spielberg's television work. He's fascinating to listen to.

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